Under Surveillance
by Sandpiper
Summary: Ross and Rachel did not break up after Chloe and are now married. They don't know it but they are also being stalked. (Based on a dream I had) I had to change the rating yet again to get by this stupid filter thing!
1. Part 1: Falling Apart

Under Surveillance 

(Thanks to Guntheress for the title, and thanks to Heather for the restaurant Red Robin. There's one comment in here that may be seen as offensive. I can assure you that's not my personal opinion it's just the opinion of the character.)

Part 1: Falling Apart

Christina laid on her bed in the room of her apartment, twirling her blonde hair between her fingers. Hopefully I can get out of this dump soon! She thought to herself, and imagined how nice it would be once she did. No more sleeping in this lumpy bed, no more living in this tiny room, and most importantly no more Giacomo!  
Giacomo Soldi was the janitor of the apartment building, he had immigrated to the United States a few years ago from Colombia or some other third world shit hole! She didn't really care anyway, he was a complete lunatic! The soon her she was away from him the easier she would sleep at night, but regardless of the sick things he did, most of which she never wanted to know about, he had helped her a lot. Almost ever since the first day she met Ross Geller, he had helped. She smiled at the thought of Ross, even though she saw him everyday at work she still missed him. Six months ago she started working as his personal assistant at the university, and slowly fell in love with him. He was so different than the previous losers she was involved with, and most importantly was nothing like Tim! Christina shuddered at the thought of her ex-husband. The bastard! That was her problem, even though she was absolutely positive Ross Geller was just the man for her to spend the rest of her life with, he was married! She had tired to seduce him, but soon realized that this would be more difficult than getting some college boy to stray from his month long girlfriend. That's when Giacomo came into the picture.....he taught her how if she got to know them, then she would know what would break them up. As a matter of fact he was so good at watching them it even scared her. She was too afraid to ask him why he helped her, but she was pretty damn sure it wasn't out of the goodness of his heart!  
Her thoughts were interrupted by a sound over the speaker, she got out of her bed and went over to the window. Across the street she could see Ross and his wife talking. She laughed and leaned across the coffee table and kissed him. Ha! Enjoy it while you can bitch! Christina thought to herself, as a sly smile crept across her face.  
Ross came into his office and plopped down in the chair. 'God I'm exhausted!' he thought to himself, and ran his hands over his face.   
"Dr. Geller?" a voice asked from the doorway. Ross looked up, and saw his assistant standing in the doorway.  
"Oh hey Christina," he said.  
"Professor Markham called, he says he can't make it to lunch today, and your 2:00 lecture has been moved to 12:00," she read from her notepad.  
"What?! UGH!" Great! That meant that he only had an hour to finish getting ready for the lecture, he sighed," thanks Christina."  
"No problem." she said and turned to leave the room. Ross caught himself looking at her butt as she left then immediately felt guilty. Even though he didn't know why, him and Rachel had been married for six years, and just looking didn't technically do any harm. He sighed again, he knew why he felt guilty, even though it was more than six years ago the guilt was still there. He stood up and picked up this notes for the lecture, thinking to himself that maybe no matter how many years passed it would always be there.  
Christina hummed to herself as she ate her salad during the lunch break, It had been a long hard day but she was still very happy. When Ross came into the office after his morning lecture he looked tired, irritable, and grumpy. She could only imagine what he would be like at the end of the day, maybe because of that they would have another fight! She had observed that the honeymoon was definitely over for Ross and Rachel, they were getting to the point where they had been together for a long time and were getting tired of each other. It was the perfect time for them to break up. She smiled again and took a sip of her diet coke. 'Soon....I'll just have to be patient until then.'  
"Come on! Aren't you ready yet?" Ross yelled from the living room, Rachel glared in that direction then went back to rifling through the drawers of her jewelry box. Ross came into the bedroom doorway and gave her a look, "Rachel?!" he said impatiently.  
"Just a second, I told you I'm trying to find my jade necklace!" Rachel said back to him.  
"We're gonna be late!" Ross said, that earned him another glare, "Rach this is your big Ralph Lauren party!"  
"Yes I know that! And I want to be on time, but first I just want to find my damn jade necklace!" Rachel yelled slamming the jewelry box shut on the last syllable.   
"Well if you hadn't forgotten than maybe you'd have more time to look for it!" Ross said in a lecturing tone.  
Rachel gaped at him, " I did NOT forget!"  
"Oh yeah right," Ross laughed  
"Alright! I am not in the mood to fight about this right now okay?" she yelled.  
"Fine!" Ross said.  
"Fine!" She responded.  
"I'll go get us a cab." He grumbled as he walked out the door.  
"I'll meet you down there once I find the necklace." She started to say but heard the door slam in mid-sentence. Rachel sighed and continued her search. Her and Ross had been fighting a lot recently, it was getting very tiring. 'I guess it's just a phase all married couples go through....and we still have some good times' Rachel told herself as she walked down the stairs, to meet Ross and the cab. She remembered how good it was last night, they had ordered in, and rented a movie and for the first time in a while actually enjoyed themselves. Rachel knew that a lot of their problems were caused by how stressed out Ross was from work. 'Hopefully he'll have some fun at this party, and relax a little bit.....AH! There it is!" She thought to herself as she grabbed the necklace from off her nightstand, and went through the living room and out the door, not noticing the tiny metal object by the window seat that had been crushed under her heels.  
Christina hiked up the stairs to her apartment, and went through the door. Gaicomo was there bent over a table, which was covered in pieces of metal, wire, plastic and other unidentifiable things. She always what exactly it was he did there all day, but had learned long ago not to ask questions, so she simply began to go to her room.  
"The bug went out," Gaicomo said, stopping Christina in her tracks, "we'll have to replace it."  
"Again?" Christina said irritably, "That's the third time this month! I.....I don't like going over there so much."  
Gaicomo stood up and walked over to her, "If we don't replace it, then we have no way of knowing what is going on over there!"  
"I know that!" Christina said, trying not to let on how nervous he made her, "But I mean....their neighbors are already suspicious of us."  
"Well then they won't catch us this time will they?" he practically yelled, and stormed back over to his work table.   
With in a couple minutes Christina was pacing nervously at the top of the landing in front of Ross's apartment, while Giacomo fiddled with the lock. She wished he would hurry up, they had been seen on several different occasions by the neighbors. She knew it would only be a matter of time before someone got suspicious, especially if one of them was seen picking a lock while the other stood guard.  
"Come on!" Giacomo said once he finally got the door open. They both rushed inside and shut the door behind them. Gaicomo looked around for a few seconds then walked into the bedroom muttering something about "Give me a moment."   
Christina put a little surprise for later in the couch, then just sat around for a while listening for noise in the hall that would suggest they were coming home. Meanwhile Gaicomo put the tiny microchip on top of the bedroom door frame, hoping it wouldn't fall off and be crushed like the last ones. Once he was done he stretched his back then walked over to the dresser, this room was thick with her smell. Opening the top drawer made the smell stronger, it seemed to seep from every item of clothing. He picked up something out of the drawer......a scarf. He started intently at it while running the item through his hands. The velvety soft material seemed to pour over his hands, and it was red........red like blood. 'Like her blood........'  
"Gaicomo?" Christina's voice interrupted his thoughts, "are you done?" Gaicomo looked at her, a look that chilled her right to the bone. After what seemed like an eternity but was probably only a few seconds, he nodded and walked past her out of the room. Christina stood there for a few seconds trying to keep her stomach from turning over, she had seen him over by the dresser and she had seem him stuff the scarf into his pocket before walking out.   
He was starting to scare her....he always had scared her! The way the met was so strange it was only natural she wonder what he was about. She still remembered it, she had been watching Ross and his wife in the park on day, when suddenly he grabbed her and dragged her into an ally, then told her "What are you doing?! HUH? You want the idiot professor?" She was surprised that this stranger could know that, he didn't give her a chance to say anything before going on to say, "Well your doing it the wrong way!" She discovered from him that indeed she had been, but she wasn't sure if that was a bad thing or a good thing. Gaicomo was down right creepy! It didn't seem normal that he knew all of the things he did!  
Rachel opened the door to the apartment, and came him inside throwing her purse down. She was not happy. Ross came in behind her, she simply went over to the fridge and got out a diet coke. Ross sighed, "Rachel please don't start this."  
"Don't start what?" Rachel asked feigning ignorance.  
"I didn't even want to be there in the first place!" Ross said.  
"Oh well excuse me for thinking you might want to be a part of my life! Why should you care?! I mean it's not like your my husband or anything!" Rachel sarcastically.  
"So what? I'm just suppose to run all around to all these events and parties and stand by your side smiling like the first lady?" Ross said back.  
"I do the same at all of your....things at NYU!!!!" Rachel responded.  
"Yeah and you complain about all of them!" Ross yelled taking off his jacket.  
Rachel sighed with exasperation, "Ross I wanted you to have fun at this party! You didn't even try to!"  
"Well I'm sorry! I wasn't up for standing around pretending to enjoy myself! I work hard Rachel!" Ross said.  
"And I don't?!?!?! What you think all I do is dance around looking at pretty clothes? There's a lot more to fashion than just the runway!" She yelled  
"Oh yes how could I forget you tell the models were to stand to have their pictures taken. How silly of me! Wow Rach, you poor baby....that must be really strenuous!" He said sarcastically.  
"Alright you know what that's it! If your so tired than it won't matter where you sleep will it?" Rachel said.  
"Oh of course! Resort to the old make the guy sleep on the couch trick! Well don't bother I'll do it voluntarily." Ross said coldly.  
Rachel glared at him, "Fine!" she said and quickly went into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her. She undressed, put on her pajama's, and laid down in bed before she broke down and cried into her pillow. Though she hadn't let it on that last comment had hurt......bad.  
Christina knocked on the door to Ross's office as she entered. She found him there, sitting behind his desk looking at some unknown point.  
"Oh there you are," She said, "are you okay?"  
"Huh?" Ross said looking up at her, "Oh uh....yeah I'm fine."  
"Well, Professor Grant was looking for you, she said you missed a meeting this morning." Christina explained.  
"Oh my god that's right! That was today!" He said.  
"So what's goin' on?" she asked.  
"Nothing" Ross said.  
" No don't give me that I know it's something....here," she said and handed him his coat, "I'll buy you a cup of coffee."  
They sat across from each other in a booth at the diner over two cups of mocha, he talked, and she listened to all that he told her....all that he didn't know she already knew.  
"So.....that's about it." Ross concluded.  
"Well that's not so bad, I mean all couples have hard times-" Christina began.  
"No! This is more than just hard times, it's more like....it's more like I've been unhappy for so long I don't even remember what its like to be happy! Rachel was my high school crush I, I never dreamed that I wouldn't be happy with her." Ross explained and looked down.   
"Awww.....I'm sorry," She said and squeezed his hand, "things don't always work the way you want them to huh?"  
"No I guess not," he replied.  
"Hey would you like to have dinner with me sometime? Just to talk?" she asked.  
Ross hesitated, "I....I don't know-"  
"Dr. Geller-" she began.  
"Call me Ross" he corrected.  
"Ross, I'm just wanting to help you." Christina said.  
"Thanks, I just don't feel comfortable......." Ross began.  
"I understand." She said.  
"Yeah," he said smiling at her, "thanks for the coffee."  
"No problem." She said as he walked out the door. Once he was gone she smiled to herself. 'I'm getting closer.'  
Rachel came home from work early that day, she noticed the blanket and pillow were on the couch from Ross sleeping there last night. She sighed and began gathering them up. She folded up the blanket then grabbed the pillow, and noticed something in the couch. She picked it up.......'oh my god!!!'....her heard began to race, and she suddenly felt like her lungs had turned to steel. 'Breath in, breath out' she told her self over and over again. At that moment Ross came in the door.   
"Hey Rach-" he said, and looked questioningly at her.  
"What is this?!" she demanded holding out the item.  
"Um....well I could be wrong but it looks like....panties," Ross said stating the obvious.  
"I know they're panties! What are they doing here?!" Rachel yelled.  
"I don't know! Where did you find them?" Ross asked.  
"I found them in the couch! You want to tell me how they got there?" She asked.  
"I don't know, maybe they feel out of the basket when you were doing laundry." He suggested.  
"These are not mine! These belong to someone else! How, how could you do this to me? AGAIN!" Rachel yelled, trying not to cry.  
"I didn't! You.....you could have bought those a long time ago and just forgotten!" Ross said.  
"Oh yeah right! Sure!" She said, now crying without control.  
"Rachel I swear to God I have no idea how those got there!" Ross was beginning to panic he knew how bad this looked, but he was just as confused as she.  
Rachel looked at him through her tears and just shook her head, "Oh Ross......the least you can do is not insult my intelligence! Be a man and admit it! Admit it!!!!!!"  
"I would if there was something to admit!!!!!!!" Ross said, "Rachel your going to have to believe me-"  
"Believe you?!?!?!?!?! How the hell could you even ask me to believe you?! First that thing and now.....now this?" She said.  
"That was six years ago! You said you trusted me!" He yelled.  
"I did until now!" Rachel said.  
"If you really trusted me you would believe me." He said.  
Rachel looked away for a minute, then laughed cruelly, "Believe you? Look at this." She said and passed him the panties, he looked at them, "Why would I buy a pair of underwear that has someone else's initials in them?"  
Ross felt like he was going to have a heart attack, they were there.....screaming up at him in pink thread. "Rachel-" he began.  
"Get out!" Rachel said.  
"Rach please."  
"GET OUT!!!! Get out now! Out!!!!!" She screamed. Ross set the offending item of clothing down on the kitchen table, turned and left.  
Ross wandered around for about an hour, eventually ending up at his office.  
"Ross?" Christina asked, looking up from her desk, "Hey I thought you already left for the day?"  
Ross blinked at her, then said, "Oh.....yeah"  
"Is something wrong?" She asked. Ross looked at her the slowly proceeded to tell her everything.  
"It looks bad but......I honestly have no idea how they got into our house," Ross said.  
"Well, why would she not believe you?" Christina asked.  
He sighed, "I did cheat on her once...it was before me were married, I was drunk.....she told me she forgave me.........she said she trusted me again."  
"Oh....I'm so sorry. Is there anything I could do?" She asked.  
"Well.....I was kinda wondering, if your offer still stood?" He said.  
She smiled, "Of course! How about tonight?"  
"Sounds good," he said, "Red Robin, at seven?"  
"Okay," She agreed.  
Rachel dragged herself back up the stairs to her apartment. She had just gone for a long run hoping it would help her relax. It only succeeded in making her tired as well as upset. She went strait to the bathroom and got into the shower. The noise from the water pouring out of the faucet drowned out the sound of the front door opening......  
Ross packed up the paper work he had been doing. It was almost seven. 'I wonder if I should go home to change" he wondered then realized the meaning behind that thought.  
Rachel shut off the water and stepped out of the bathroom in her robe. All she wanted to do now was take a sleeping pill, eat about a quart of ice cream, and then sleep for a million years. She padded her way through the dark apartment to the kitchen, unaware of the figure who was close enough to smell her shampoo and hear every breath she took. She poured herself a glass of milk, then went over to the window seat to find her book. As she was walking past the area between the bathroom and the kitchen a single finger reached out and brushed through her hair. Rachel set the milk down and took off her robe and crawled into bed, not bothering with pajamas tonight.  
"Damnit! I left the bathroom light on!" she said to herself, then put her robe back on. After she flipped the light off everything went so fast she barely knew what was happening. Rachel turned around, the sight off the man registered in her mind, but she didn't have time to respond. He attacked her a second later, slashing at her arms with something. They tumbled over a table, breaking the things on it. He tore at her robe and scratched around her shoulders and chest with a knife. Rachel suddenly realized how much danger she was in. She threw her fist into the air toward her attacker. It connected with the side of his head so hard it practically broke her fingers, though she barely noticed. She began scrambling away, but was not fast enough. He grabbed her by her ankle, then drove the knife into her stomach. Rachel screamed in pain, a second later he grabbed her by her hair and smashed her head into the floor.


	2. Part 2: Wish This Horrible Night Away

(Okay this may have not been so clear in the beginning. Ross and Rachel are the only ones in this fic, the others have moved away and Ross and Rachel live in what is now Chandler and Monica's apartment. Sorry if there was any confusion about that.)

Part 2: Wish This Horrible Night Away

As soon as the cab pulled up in front of Red Robin, Ross jumped out and jogged up to the curb. Christina, who had been waiting out front for a while, smiled warmly and walked over to him.  
"Hey, I thought you weren't going to show for a minute there," She said, and took his hand, "shall we go in?"  
"Uhh....no. Look Christina this was a mistake," Ross said, "I know this may sound very conceited, and your motives are probably purely professional, but I'm not sure mine are."  
"Wha-, what are talking about?" She asked.  
"Rachel and I just had a serious fight so......my being here probably isn't the smartest thing to do. I'm sorry...." Ross said.  
"Oh...well, okay, fine. I, I guess I'll see you on Monday then." She said.  
"Yeah, see you Monday." Ross said, and turned to head home..........

********  
The world seemed to be swirling around her, she opened her eyes and was hit by bright light like a wreaking ball. Rachel bolted up right and over to the pan beside her and threw up. She heaved over and over again until her stomach was empty, then settled back into the bed.   
"Here breath through this." A voice said.  
"NO!" Rachel said, and shoved away the oxygen mask, "I'm fine. Could.....could I get a sip of water?"  
"Sure," he said, and someone handed her a small cup of water. She drank until the sour taste was washed away then took a minute to let her breathing return to normal.   
"Are you okay now, Mrs. Geller?" the man asked.  
"Yeah," Rachel said.  
"I'm Dr. Powell." He said and held out his hand to her.   
She shook it lightly, "Hi......where am I? How do you know my name?"  
"You're at 53rd Street Medical Center, your husband brought you in." The doctor answered. Rachel turned toward the door, the slight movement made her head feel like it was going to explode. "OHHH!"  
"Careful! Careful!" Dr. Powell, said and laid her back down. Rachel grasped her pounding head, and slowly turned toward the door. Ross was sitting in a chair out in the hall with his elbows propped up on his knees, staring at some spot on the wall.  
"You've got a hell of a concussion," the doctors words brought her attention back to him, "that's what the nausea's from. And you have some liver damage from the knife wound but it should get better. Also several minor bruises and lacerations on your arms and legs those should be healed in a few weeks."   
"Okay," Rachel said.  
"Now I understand you are currently on birth control pills?" He asked, flipping through his chart.  
"Yeah." She answered.  
"Did you take yours today?" He said.  
"Yes! Why are you asking me all of this?" Rachel demanded. He sighed and looked toward the door just as a woman in a white lab coat walked though, shutting the door firmly behind her. "This is Dr. Cynthia Means, she's the on call gynecologist here."  
"And?" Rachel croaked out. 'oh please God....'  
"She's here to do a rape kit on you." Dr. Powell explained.  
"WHAT?!?!" Rachel screamed and sat up, ignoring how much the action hurt her head.  
"We have reason to believe you've been sexually assaulted, Mrs. Geller," The woman explained gently, "some physical evidence was found-"  
"Dr. Means.......I'm a married woman." Rachel offered, even though she knew it had been weeks since her and Ross had made love.  
Dr. Means looked at her, "Mrs. Geller-"  
"Look! I don't need a damn rape kit okay?!" Rachel interrupted.   
"I'm not saying it for sure, we just know that there is the possibility. We could be wrong, but I'd really like to check and make sure," Dr. Means explained, "Okay?" Rachel felt like throwing up again, but she nodded her head. Everyone left the room, the door was shut and locked behind them, and the blinds were closed. Rachel laid as stiff as a board as Dr. Means eased her feet into the stirrups, and pushed back the sheet. She did not even have to ask, she could tell from her face when Dr. Means looked up. The doctor reached over and pulled a long Q-tip from the rape kit.....as Rachel's world collapsed.

**********  
Christina had gone from mad to livid. Ross canceled their dinner so she went for a drink and ended up staying out until 4 AM. By the time she got home the rumors where already flying around from person to person. She raced up the stairs, no longer remember how hung over she felt a few minutes ago, and threw open the door. "What did you do?!" She managed to gasp out.  
Gaicomo, who was sitting over his work bench as usual, calmly said "What do you mean? I didn't hurt her enough to kill her."  
"Oh! Well, that makes it okay!" She yelled, "do you have any idea what you've done?!?! You may have just screwed all of this up!!!"  
He looked at her, then in a split second tossed the table over and cleared the distance between them. His hand clamped down hard on her throat. She gasped and tired to free herself from his grip. "Maybe you'd want it to be you instead?" he asked. She looked at him, trying to figure out if he was serious or not. "WELL?!" He yelled, squeezing harder. She started to cry, and quickly shook her head no. He stared at her for a second then released her neck and went out the door. She collapsed to the floor coughing and gasping for breath. She was in way over head.

********  
They kept Rachel in the hospital for a week, then released her after Dr. Powell felt the concussion had recovered enough. He wanted to keep her there longer but she begged him to let her go home. She could not stand it there, all of the nurses tip toeing around her, acting like what had happened to her was contagious, and they could get it. The wound at her side still hurt horribly, and she had a semi-chronic headache, but was glad to leave. Ross brought her some clothes, and helped her get into them. He had been in and out of the hospital several times, though neither of them had any idea what to say to each other. Rachel didn't argue when the nurse brought her a wheel chair, she was beyond caring about anything except get out of there. 

They pulled up outside the curb in front of their apartment, and found a man and a woman waiting for them there.  
"Ross and Rachel Geller?" the man asked as Ross helped Rachel out of the car.  
"Yeah?" Ross answered.  
"I'm Detective Kensington, and this is Detective Randall," The woman said, "We're with the New York Police Department, we like to talk to you about your attack."  
"Excuse me!? She just came home-" Ross began.  
"What do you want to know?" Rachel interrupted.  
"Well for starters do you know the person who attacked you?" Detective Kensington asked.  
"No," Rachel said.  
"Do you think you could give us a description of him?" she said.  
"Maybe we should move this inside." Detective Randall suggested. They all agreed it would be a good idea, and went inside. Going up the steps, the four of them bumped into someone. He was wearing a maintenance uniform and carrying a tool box.  
"Excuse me" he muttered and walked pass, glancing into Rachel's eyes as he went. She knew him from somewhere......where was-? She gasped and stumbled as the memory came back to her.  
"Ma'am?" Detective Randall asked, "Are you okay?"  
"That's him!" Rachel whispered, and dug her nails into Ross's arm in an attempt not to fall over, "That's him I'm sure of it!" They looked after the man for a minute, then Detective Kensington turned around and approached him.  
"Excuse me? Sir?" She said, showing her badge "May we have a word with you?"  
"Who me?" He asked.  
"Yeah," she said.  
"Yeah.....sure" he said, and turned slightly then whipped around and threw the tool box at Detective Kensington. It hit her on the side of her head and knocked her down. Detective Randall ran after the man and grabbed him just as he was going out the front door from the lobby.

*********  
"Gaicomo Soldi," Detective Randall read from the file in his hands, to Ross and Rachel who sat across from his desk in their office, "37 year old, Colombian immigrant....wanted in three states on nine different counts of sexual assault."  
"This makes ten," Detective Kensington added.  
"We've faxed his mug shot around, witnesses in all three states have made positive identifications. It will take a while to get to court, but we should get a conviction easily. Mean while we're holding him without the possibility of bail." Detective Randall assured them.  
"Rachel.....I know it's not much of a consolation right now, but he would have done this again without a doubt.....you saved someone else from getting hurt." Detective Kensington said.

********  
Christina stood in the middle of her apartment. She had heard just a few minutes ago. It came strait from an acquaintance who had been locked up in the drunk tank at the time they brought Gaicomo in. Her friend also informed her that he over heard the cops talking, and there was solid forensic evidence linking Gaicomo to the rape. He wasn't going to get out. She could hardly believe it......she was free. Gaicomo had been arrested, and couldn't hurt her (which she suspected he might), and the cops figured they'd solved their crime so they wouldn't be coming around any more.......all of the problems that were plaguing her a few moments before were gone now. She looked out the window at the city below, having wondering what exactly she should do now

******.  
Ross stayed home for a few days until Rachel finally forced him to go to work. He was even worse than the nurses at the hospital, he treated her like if he said one wrong thing she would break, and the worst part was she had the feeling he was still mad at her for not trusting him, he just stayed because he felt sorry for her.  
Rachel had been sleeping a lot since she came home, from how drowsy the she painkillers she was on made her. She woke up from a mid-morning nap at around 10 o'clock, and realized she had no idea what to do now. She could have gone and laid down in the living room and watched TV or read a book, but that didn't seem right. How could she do such normal things so soon after going through "the fate worse than death"?   
'What am I suppose to do instead?' she asked herself, but could come up with no good answer.

******  
Ross couldn't concentrate at all during his classes, all he could think about was that he shouldn't have left Rachel. It was less than three weeks after she'd nearly been killed, and he should be there to take care of her!

********  
Rachel pondered her dilemma until she felt tired enough to go back to sleep, and gratefully did. A flashback came to her in her dreams, she remembered the pain over her entire body, she remembered opening her eyes slightly and seeing Gaicomo's face, she remembered him touching her..........she began remembering feeling him inside her, invading her in the most private way. She snapped out of her nightmare and instinctively grabbed the phone off the nightstand and dialed the university. Ross's assistant answered in a clear voice, "Ross Geller's office". Rachel opened her mouth to speak but the words stuck in her throat.   
"Hello?.......Hello?" the voice said over the phone. Rachel gripped the phone as hard as she could, clenched her teeth, then hurled it across the room into the wall. After it was quiet again she heard a soft scratching sound. Her heart raced, what if that was someone trying to get in? Oh God what was going to happen to her? She still got dizzy easily, and had a hard time walking without pain because of how deep the wound to her stomach was. She got more and more scared as the noise continued. Finally unable to stand it any longer she pulled herself out of bed, balanced herself against the dresser until she felt steady then put her robe on over her night gown and walked out the door. The source of the noise was close.......the window! 'Could someone get in through there?!' she wondered, and she slowly made her way over to it. She reached out with a shaking hand, and tore back the curtain. An orange beak and feathers stared back at her. Rachel mentally kicked herself. 'A pigeon! It was just a fucking pigeon!' She leaned her back against the wall, slowly sank to the floor, then hugged her knees tightly and she rocked back and forth as she cried.

*******  
Ross hurriedly packed all of his papers into his brief case. He wanted to get home quickly so he could make Rachel lunch. As he was walking out the door Christina stopped him to give him his lecture notes for this afternoon.  
"I'm sorry about your wife by the way," She said.  
Ross nodded, "Thanks."  
"Yeah it's really sad. Good thing they caught the guy though." She said casually.  
Ross looked at her, "How do you know they caught him? I haven't told anyone."  
"Oh....well I heard it on the news." She explained nervously.  
"No, the police haven't released that yet." He said starting to become suspicious.  
"Uhh......" She began, then turned around and hurried away, "I have to be somewhere."  
"Hey wait!" Ross yelled and ran after her. By the time he caught up with her in the parking lot she was already gone.

********  
Detective Randall and Detective Kensington sat across from Ross and Rachel their living room while police officers searched their apartment.  
"We looked at Christina's record," Detective Randall said, "she's barely even had a traffic ticket. The only significant thing is an abusive relationship with her ex-husband Tim Healey. But she was the victim there."  
"How could she know?" Ross asked.  
"Gossip gets around. It could be possible she has a friend in law enforcement." Detective Kensington offered.  
"But if that's why then why would she run away? Couldn't she just tell me that?" He demanded, starting to get irritated.  
"We have no way of knowing Mr. Geller, that still does not give use much reason to believe Christina is involved." Detective Kensington explained.  
"Hey look at this," one of the officers said, and handed them a small metal thing.  
"What is it?" Rachel asked.  
"An audio recording device," Detective Randall said as he transferred it into an evidence bag.  
"A bug?!?!?!" Ross yelled, "They've been bugging us!?!?!"  
"Oh my god! What if there are cameras too!" Rachel exclaimed.  
"Okay just calm down. Well have our officers do a full search of your apartment, if there are any more we'll find them." Detective Randall said, "This still does not link it Christina, but it does provide us with more evidence against Gaicomo. Especially if there are any fingerprints on it."  
"Wait! What did you say her last name was?" Rachel asked, remembering something.  
"Healey," Detective Randal said. Rachel got up and went over to a drawer in the kitchen.   
"Look at this! I found these in the couch a few weeks ago, but Ross swore he didn't know anything about them." Rachel said and held out the panties she had found. They looked at them.  
"C.H.," Detective Kensington read, "Mr. Geller were you involved in an affair with your assistant?"  
"No! Absolutely not!" Ross said, a little angry that even the police thought he was cheating on his wife, despite the fact that it was the most obvious answer. The two detectives looked at each other then put the panties into an evidence bag.  
"We'll keep this mind," They assured, Ross and Rachel. They finished searching the house and found a couple more bugs, but they were all crushed and broken. When they finally left Rachel went strait to bed. Ross stayed on the couch in the living room, neither of them slept very well that night.

*******  
Christina was very angry at herself. She could not believe how stupid she was! How could she have said that?! She paced around her apartment. She knew she couldn't stay there for long. It was Gaicomo's apartment, so the police eventually would find it. And now they would be looking for her. She had seen the over at Ross's apartment through the window. She considered her situation, and what she could do about it. Her plan to get Ross had totally fallen through, and now she could be arrested. She was not going to end up in prison like Gaicomo, no way! She would have to take steps to keep that from happening......no matter what those steps might be.


	3. Part 3: Ancient Elements

Part 3:Â Ancient ElementsÂ   
  
In the late night shadows she managed to take her time to ensure she silently unlocked the front door. Once it finally came open she crept inside, and past the figure sleeping on the couch. She stopped to look at the person in the bed. After a moment of hesitation she reminded herself that it was either them or herself. She picked up and pillow and covered her face with it, one thing she hadn't anticipated was the they might not stay asleep. The realization that something was very wrong came quickly. Rachel struggled against the force that kept her from breathing, and cried out once she was able to push the pillow away enough. Christina began panicked and attacked her the two women fought fiercely, stumbling around in the dark. Ross heard the noise immediately and woke up.  
  
"Rach?!" He called, and dashed to the bedroom. On the way he tripped a table that had been knocked over and ended up falling into the bedroom. Christina slammed the door shut and ran as fast as she could toward then area where she thought the front door was. Rachel pulled herself up and did what was one of the least intelligent things she ever did, she ran after her. This lead her to run into a low beam of wood, hit her head, and pass out for what seemed like the hundredth time recently.  
  
*******  
  
Rachel laid obediently still as the doctor at the emergency room treated her. She had of course re-injured her head, but there didn't seem to be any other damage. She felt very foolish, and helpless, and mentally burned out. It seemed like no matter what she did nothing would ever be even close to normal ever again.Â   
  
Meanwhile Ross was engaged in a heated argument. "What do you mean there's nothing you can do?! She tried to kill us!"  
  
"Look Mr. Geller-" Detective Randall started.  
  
"Ross! Call me Ross!" He corrected.  
  
"Ross, we have no proof it was Christina-" the detective began again.  
  
"So what we're just suppose to wait around for her to come back?!" Ross asked.  
  
"We're doing everything we can to see that you and your wife are safe." Detective Kensington said.  
  
"Yeah well that obviously isn't enough!" Ross yelled, and stormed off before either could get in one more word. After seeing Rachel in the hospital again Ross resolved that if the police wouldn't protect her he would. He would take them away.....to some place safe.  
  
**********  
  
Rachel stared out the window of their rental car watching trees go by. When Ross suggested that they go away to be safe she had agreed. They both got a temporary leave of absence from work and were now going unto this place upstate that apparently Ross and Monica had gone on vacation a few times when they were kids. The whole idea of hiding out in some old family home seemed very....suspense movie like, but if it would keep them safe then it didn't really matter.  
  
"You okay?" Ross asked as they pulled up the drive way.  
  
"Yeah I'm fine," Rachel said deadpan. The house was less like a house and more like a small cabin, Rachel would have found it charming under different circumstances.  
  
"Here we are. You can go in and lay down, I'll get the bags," Ross said, the words were really sweet but his voice seemed so cold and mechanical. Rachel just nodded and walked inside.Â   
  
*******  
  
As Ross unpacked the car he tried not to think about how much even looking at Rachel broke his heart. This must be hell for her....and he had no idea how to help.  
  
*******  
  
Rachel slept the rest of the day, and then got up the next morning showered, got dressed and went to the kitchen for some breakfast. She figured she might as well make the best of the situation. At least this way she could try to recover without having to worry about questions from the people at work. As she was making coffee Ross walked, or more like staggered, into the kitchen looking kinda like he had spent the night in a Laundromat dryer.  
  
"What are you doing?" He asked.  
  
"Making coffee," Rachel said irritated. 'Where does he get off demanding to know what I'm doing?'  
  
"Well you should have asked me.....here" He said and went over to her.  
  
"Well excuse me but I can do things for myself!" She said.  
  
"Rachel don't argue with me!" He said trying to pry the canister out of her hands, causing both of them to drop it on the floor in an explosion of coffee grounds.  
  
"God Ross what the hell is your problem?!?!?!" Rachel yelled. He flinched away as she looked into his eyes, as if he couldn't stand to look at her. Rachel suddenly felt repulsed all over again. Tears welled up in her eyes.  
  
"Fine do what ever you want." She said and bolted back to the bedroom, where she collapsed into a fit of sobs.  
  
Ross sighed and began sweeping up the coffee grounds, trying to keep from crying himself. He kept hurting Rachel over and over again.  
  
*******  
  
As time passed Rachel slowly got better. Her side healed, the stitches were removed, and the constant lingering headaches finally went away. She also began to heal emotionally the sudden panic attacks stopped, and she had less nightmares than before.  
  
Rachel laid in bed one night, she had gone to bed early saying she was tired. She was getting so sick of living with nothing to do day after day, she didn't even have anyone to talked to. The situation between her and Ross wasn't getting better. It was a rare event when they spoke to each other, hell they barely even looked at each other recently. She was getting tired of the book she was reading, but didn't really feel like sleeping either. She didn't know how she felt......her mind seemed pent up, restless, and bored above all. 'I wonder if Ross is as bored as me?' she though to herself. There was only one bedroom in the house so she assumed he slept in the living room, but didn't care enough to ask. She tried again to concentrate on getting into the story, finally giving up she dropped the book and twirled he edge of the sheet in her fingers staring up at the ceiling mindlessly. With a sigh she half rolled onto her side and ran her hand over her breast and down her stomach, the feeling of her own touch through the soft fabric of her night gown created small flames which tingled through out her body. She sighed again, rolled her eyes at herself mentally, and turned over completely onto her stomach. 'So....how long after a rape is it suppose to be before you start thinking about sex? Ugh! They should really make a book answering these things!' she thought to herself, rolled her eyes again, then turned off the light and fell asleep.  
  
********  
  
The days and weeks continued to pass, along with their tedious hours and mundane tasks. Ross and Rachel did what ever they could to pass the time. Rachel couldn't help but let her mind wonder......she thought about many things, including the things that she sort of felt she shouldn't want to think about. However she couldn't help but also feel that it would be nice to have someone.....someone to kiss, someone to hold her late at night, basically someone to love, but she wasn't exactly sure if the wanted that those things with Ross. They had grown so far apart the thought seemed weird to her.....almost as if they'd never gone out at all.Â   
  
'We did though, and we've been through so much,' Rachel thought to herself as she remembered Julie, the list, her new job, Mark, Chloe, 'Yet we still got married!' She realized. Suddenly things seemed very clear to her; Gaicomo had done a horrible thing to her, but she couldn't let it destroy everything the two of them had fought for time and time again. Rachel got out of bed where she had been laying a minute before, and slipped on her robe. She wondered all through the house before finding Ross sitting out on the front porch, she opened the door and came out behind him.  
  
"Hey," She said softly  
  
Ross looked at her surprised. "Hey," he said back.  
  
"So this is what you do all night, huh?" Rachel asked as she sat down in another chair and looked at the baseball bat he had sitting next to his chair.  
  
Ross blushed a little, "I thought you had gone to bed already."  
  
"I couldn't sleep," Rachel explained, the paused for a couple moments, "Ross I know you mean well but you can't just sit out here every night. Okay? I need you to come to bed and hold me and make love with me, I can't take all of this us never talking to each other stuff."  
  
Ross made no reply, just looked at the floor.  
  
"I know you don't want to touch me.....I feel dirty too-" Rachel began but he cut her off.  
  
"What?! Rachel I don't think you're dirty! Not at all!"  
  
Rachel stared at him, "Then what the hell is going on with you?!"  
  
"I......."he began, and then looked down, "Rachel do you know where I was the night it happened? Christina had invited me to dinner with her. So.....while you were being raped, I was off about to go on a date with another woman! I mean how awful is that?! I feel like total scum, I cheated on you once before and I was about to again!! I don't deserve to love you, but I feel can at least protect you."  
  
Rachel sat in stunned silence while she listened to what Ross was saying, after he was done she stood up and paced around for a few minutes, taking time to think about what she had just heard. Finally she sighed and turned back to him, "Ross.........what happens, happens. You couldn't have prevented this anymore than I could have." she said, looking at him, " I can't say I'm thrilled to hear what you just told me, and I know you think I'm going to leave you-"  
  
"It's okay.....I wouldn't blame you," Ross said, looking down.  
  
"Yes......but I'm not going to." she said, Ross looked up at her in surprise after she said that, "I'm determined to live my life even after all of this, and part of life is making choices. I'm not here with you because of something you've said, or something you've done, or because you've tricked me in someway......I'm here because I choose to be. And I choose to continue to be. I'm scared just like you are! We were being stalked, I've almost been killed twice, and now Christina is out there somewhere and I don't know what she's going to do or when we can go back to our normal lives. Now we can let this take over our entire lives, like it has so far......or we can choose to get through it together! To not let it destroy us!"  
  
Ross sat for a moment the slowly stood up and went over next to Rachel, he opened his mouth as if you speak but no words came out at first. Finally after a hoarse chuckle he put his hand on her cheek asked, "How can you be so strong?"  
  
Rachel's eyes began to tear up as she shook her head and whispered, "I don't know." Ross slowly stroked her cheek with his thumb then oh so slowly leaned over and gave her a soft tender kiss on the lips. They broke the kiss after a little while and leaned together at the forehead as Rachel let her tears fall.Â   
  
Ross slowly kissed down her neck and whispered "I love you" softly into her ear. Rachel wrapped her arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder.  
  
***************  
  
Rachel laid back as Ross kissed down her stomach opening her top as she went. She would have moved, but her muscles felt as if they had been turned into jelly. Ross continued to remove her clothes, kissing every inch of burning skin that he could as he went. All of the feeling of guilt and self loathing that had been a horrible burden for so long were now gone, replaced an almost overwhelming passion. He wanted touch her everywhere, and kiss her forever, and never let her away from him again.  
  
Rachel sat up and kissed him on the mouth, while her hands slip his shirt off of him and then moved down to undo his pants. Their tongues explored each other's mouths as Ross's hands explored all over her back, and shoulders, and her aching breasts.  
  
As they got farther into their love making, a little voice inside Rachel's head kept popping up, asking her how this was any different than what Gaicomo had done to her.  
  
'Well? What is the difference?'  
  
'Shut up!!' she said inside her head.  
  
'Why? Because there isn't one?'  
  
'Stop it!!!!!!!!!!' she yelled mentally at herself.  
  
'Both acts are driven by the same thing! You know it's true! There's no difference! You're both no better than him!!!!!' the voice came through louder than ever.  
  
'NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!' Rachel's mind screamed desperately.  
  
Ross felt Rachel stiffen in his arms. 'She's getting scared.' he thought to himself, and then looked at her.  
  
"Are you okay?" he asked, she made no response, "We can stop if it's too soon." He told her and lightly stroked a piece of hair away from her eyes. Rachel stared at him for a moment, before kissing him again. She knew by looking into his eyes that there was a difference.......here the souls were fused a long with their bodies, here there was love.  
  
They moved as one, letting primal forces take over their actions and thoughts. Emotional sensations bombarded them; passion........desire.......... love.........ancient elements threatening to drive them over the edge. The storm swirled around them as they cried out in mutual gratification. Then they collapsed backward, their hearts overflowing with love and hope. Rachel relaxed and let sleep overtake her, knowing for the first time in forever that everything was alright. 


	4. Part 4: Back To Life

Okay I know that all of this changing the censure is getting annoying, but after reading over part 3 again I happened to agree with the people who said that I didn't need to be NC-17. If you think it should be…..so sorry. Please review. The epilogue is ready and will be up very soon. The more reviews I get the sooner you'll get it. Hehe, aren't I evil? Hope you like it.  
  
Part 4: Back to Life  
  
Through the comfort of the soft mattress and the soothing sound of rain drops on the roof, Ross was barely aware of the fact that he was being shaken, and his name was being called.  
  
Rachel sighed in frustration as Ross rolled over onto his stomach and fell asleep again. 'He's not getting out of this so easy!' she thought to herself, the scooted over toward him and laid on top of his back. "Rooooooss" she purred, as she stroked his arm and nibbled on his ear.  
  
'Evil woman!' Ross thought to himself. He knew there was no way he could ignore her and go back to sleep while she was doing that, no matter how tired he was.....and she knew it too. He groaned and then answered, "Yeah?"  
  
"It's raining," Rachel whispered sweetly.  
  
He turned his head around to stare at her, "You woke me up to tell me THAT?! UGH! Remind me why in god's name I married you again?"  
  
"Because I'm irresistible!" Rachel said primly and moved back over to her side of the bed, "You forgot didn't you?"  
  
"Forgot what?" Ross asked, fully awake now.  
  
"The bet," Rachel said looking very pleased with herself.  
  
"What bet?" He asked.  
  
"Remember on last night when Singin' In The Rain was on tv, and you said that if it rained today you'd dance in the rain just like them?" Rachel said.  
  
Ross looked at her, "Was I a little drunk last night?"  
  
She snickered, "A little? I think that's the understatement of the year!"  
  
He glared at her then sighed again, "You're not serious are you?"  
  
"You bet your ass I am!!!" She exclaimed, "Just because we're married doesn't mean I'm going to pass up a perfect opportunity to rub it in your face that you made an ass of yourself!"  
  
Ross groaned and then flung the sheets back and headed toward the door.  
  
"Hey wait! Aren't you going to up some clothes on?" Rachel called after him.  
  
"If I put clothes on they'll just get wet!" He yelled back. Rachel's jaw dropped. Ross Geller was going to dance outside in the rain.....naked?!?!?! 'This I have to see!' Rachel thought to herself as she got out of bed and followed Ross, grabbing an afghan off the back of the sofa to cover herself with since she wasn't wearing any clothes either.   
  
"Well here you go," Ross yelled and went down the front porch steps and began dancing around like a lunatic.  
  
"Oh my god!" Rachel said, struggling not to laugh, "Ross come inside! What if the neighbors see you?"  
  
"There are no neighbors Rach," He reminded her.  
  
"Oh........right," She said, watched him for a minute, then shook her head, "You know something sweetie? I think you're still a little drunk."  
  
"Hey!" Ross yelled in mock offense, "Just for that you have to come dance with me!"  
  
"WHAT?! No way!" Rachel yelled. Ross ran up onto the porch and grabbed her hand, "Hey wait! Ross! No! No!!" She yelled as he dragged her down the steps, dumping the afghan into a puddle on the way.  
  
"Ross!" She yelled, and ripped her hand out of his once they were in them middle of the yard, "You just ruined my afghan!"  
  
"So what? Come on dance." He said and took her hand.  
  
"NO!" Rachel snapped, crossing her arms over her chest.  
  
"Come on! Don't be so uptight!" Ross taunted.  
  
"Uptight?!" Rachel screeched, "YOU are calling me up tight? That's probably the funniest thing I've ever heard."  
  
"Hey who's the one that's trying to cover them self here?" Ross asked.  
  
Rachel looked down at her arms, and then sighed, "I cannot believe I'm doing this!" She flung her arms out above her had and twirled around in a fashion that reminded Ross of their friend Phoebe.  
  
"There! Are you happy?" Rache asked.  
  
"Very" he said and took Rachel's hand, pulled her closer to him and began to slow dance.  
  
Rachel laughed, "You know this looks kinda like new age porno film."  
  
"Yeah......or a romantic movie set in a nudist colony," Ross suggested. They laughed together, then Ross stared at her for a minute before leaning down to kiss her rosy lips, which tasted of rain water and something that was uniquely Rachel.  
  
Rachel kissed him back, and marveled at how something that, to any one else, would seem stupid or perverted was simply loving and tender for them.  
  
***************  
  
Though Ross and Rachel may have felt like in that moment they were the only people in the world, they were not a pair of eyes watched the scene from afar through binoculars. A sinister smile played on her lips as she sat in wait like a predator........soon to strike.  
  
***************  
  
Rachel's eyes snapped open as cold chill raced through her bones. She took a few deep breaths and then seemed to regain her sense of mind. 'Probably was just a nightmare' she thought to herself, and settled back down. The rain from earlier had stopped, leaving a cool but humid feeling that refused to let her hair fully dry. Rachel looked over at Ross, he certainly was getting into this. He was wearing kaki pants and a white shirt that he had left unbuttoned. 'Oh well......I'm one to talk,' she though at she looked at her own kaki shorts and small t-shirt, and the fact that they were both napping in a hammock. Rachel laughed to herself, they had found it in a closet awhile ago and decided to hang it up just for fun. Since the night when they finally worked out the problems they had been having, they had been better than they had in a long time. She still worried that maybe it wouldn't last once they had to go back to the real world, but for now she was happy to just go along with it.   
  
Rachel cuddled closer to him, and whispered "Good morning"  
  
"Mmmm.....good afternoon is more like it," Ross said as he checked his watch.  
  
"So......what do we do now?" Rachel asked.  
  
"Well I guess we could use some lunch," He said.  
  
"Yeah, that's a great idea why don't you go make some?" She said.  
  
"No way! It's your turn!" He said.  
  
"No it's not!" Rachel protested.  
  
"Yes it is!" Ross insisted.  
  
"Here paper, rock, scissors?" She offered.  
  
"Okay, fine!" Ross said. They did paper, rock, scissors, Rachel got rock, Ross got scissors.  
  
"Ha!" She gloated.  
  
"Two out of three!" Ross said.  
  
"Noooooo! You lost! Now get your fine ass in there make my lunch!" Rachel said.  
  
"Brat!" Ross said, as he headed toward the front door.  
  
"Ehhh just shut up! And please don't make macaroni and cheese again! You already did three times this week." She said, and settled back down for a few more winks before lunch.  
  
**********  
  
   Detective Kensington put the phone back on the receiver and turned around.  
  
"Well I just got off the phone with the DA's office. The trial date has been set on the Soldi case, but they haven't been able to contact the Geller's so they want us to look into it.," She said, "I have tons of paper work to get done, do you think you could handle this?"  
  
"Yeah sure, no problem," Detective Randall said.  
  
**********  
  
Christina crawled out of her sleeping bag, which provided more comfort then the carpet of the van which served as her only home for the moment. She opened her thermos and poured a cup of coffee. She always hated how groggy she felt after sleeping in the middle of the day, but she knew that she needed to be extra alert tonight. She could not afford to get sloppy, one mistake could be fatal for her. The sudden realization of what she was planning sent a shiver up her spine and made her feel sick to her to her stomach. She firmly shook it away. 'No! I've come this far......I'm not going to give up now. If I don't go through with this my life never be safe again! It's the only way.' She told herself.  
  
**********  
  
The look on Detective Randall's face immediately showed that something was horribly wrong.  
  
"Patrick?" Detective Kensington asked, as he came back into their office, "What's the matter?"  
  
"I went over to the Geller's apartment, but they weren't home. So I tried to go see Mrs. Geller at Ralph Lauren, they told me that she'd taken a leave of absence a couple months ago and they haven't heard from her since." He explained.  
  
Detective Kensington stared at her partner for a minute, "And Dr. Geller?"  
  
"I already checked with his office, he took a leave of absence too." Detective Randal said.  
  
"What are you thinking?" She asked.  
  
"I'm not sure.....although it could be that they went off somewhere. Possibly to try to elude Christina." He said.  
  
"Yeah.....yeah maybe." She agreed, "Well we'll going to have to find them so that they can give testimony."  
  
"Think we could let their lawyer take care of that?" Detective Randall asked.  
  
Detective Kensington asked, "Probably......but what are the chances of them ever being found if we do?" They laughed for a couple seconds, before a young uniform officer ran into the office.  
  
"I think we may have a break on the Geller stalking case," The flushed young man said quickly.  
  
********  
  
The man in the interrogation room looked like someone you would imagine to be driving a cab, greasy black hair, beer gut, and a faded tank top.  
  
"We got a tip from a witness who saw Christina Healy's picture on the news, they said they saw her in this guy's pawn shop. We'd raided that pawn shop before......he's known for selling crack, illegal weapons, you name it," the man explained.  
  
The two detectives looked at each other, then went into the room.  
  
"Your name James Coyne?" Detective Randall asked.  
  
"Yeah that's me? Listen what is this crap all about?" he asked in a, not surprisingly, heavy Bronx accent.  
  
"Do you remember seeing this woman in your store?" Detective Kensington asked, showing him a picture of Christina.  
  
"Nope," He answered barely glancing at the photo.  
  
"Oh yeah?" Detective Kensington said, "What would you say if I told you was wanted for aggravated assault? And there's someone that we think she maybe after?"  
  
"Not my problem," James Coyne said with a roll of his eyes.  
  
"You're already on rocky terms with the law aren't you Mr. Coyne?" Detective Randall said, flipping through his file "Couple of drug convictions I see.........stolen guns too. What if she gets to these people?"  
  
"If you with hold information, and she does something to them you may be considered an accessory," Detective Kensington said and gave him a minute to contemplate this, "Wanna take another look at this picture?"  
  
He took the picture and looked at it then said, "She bought a gun from me a couple months ago. She said she was in a hurry so she gave me an extra $500 to forgo the background check and waiting period."  
  
"Did she say anything else?" Detective Kensington asked.  
  
"No," He said in an impatient tone.  
  
"You're sure it was this woman?" Detective Randall asked.  
  
"Yeah I'm sure!" He huffed.  
  
Detective Kensington nodded, "Thank you Mr. Coyne."  
  
**************  
  
"Well at least now we know that Christina probably does have harmful intentions against Ross and Rachel Geller." Detective Kensington said once the were out in the hall.  
  
"Still don't have proof of that though, "Detective Randall said.  
  
"She's seen buying a gun around the same time Ross and Rachel disappear?" She asked.  
  
"Could be coincidence, but probably not. It would be better if we notified the Gellers," He agreed.  
  
"But we don't know where they are." Detective Kensington said.  
  
"That is our problem....." He stated the obvious.  
  
"So? Do we ask around with their friends? See if they told anyone where they went?" She inquired.  
  
"Sounds good to me," Detective Randall said and sat down at his desk, getting right to work.  
  
************  
  
Brian Knowles climbed to the top of the hill and then took a minute to steady himself, then wiped his sweaty forehead with the back of his sleeve. It would be sundown soon, and he was eager to get back to the station so that he could go home. He started on, but caught sight of the white van through the clearing to his right.  
  
'Probably some teenagers looking for lover's lane' he thought to himself as he went over, took out his flashlight, and shined it through the window. 'No one....that's odd. On well, probably was abandoned here.' He thought and took out his walkie talkie, and radioed back to the station.  
  
************  
  
"Okay thank you anyway," Detective Kensington said, hung up the phone and then rubbed her eyes, "Well that's everyone on my list. No one knows anything. What about you any luck?"  
  
"Nope." Detective Randall said looking as tired and frustrated as she felt  
  
She sighed, "We went through all the friends and family known of right? Did we get everyone?"  
  
"Well....there is Ross Geller's sister. I called three times, but no one answered, however she lives in New Jersey. Feel like going on a little drive? He asked.  
  
"Sure. Why not?" She nodded.  
  
*************  
  
Monica paced back an forth across her living room, while Chandler sat on the sofa with their 18 month old son Nathaniel squirming on his lap.  
  
"I don't understand!" Monica screeched, "Why are you looking for my brother? There is no way he could be in trouble with the law! The only time he ever got a traffic ticket was for driving too slow!"  
  
"We believe that your brother may be in danger." Detective Kensington explained.  
  
"Wha-, what are you talking about?" Monica asked.  
  
"Were you aware, ma'am, that your sister in law was raped?" She asked.  
  
"What?!" Chandler and Monica exclaimed in unison.  
  
"She was........raped?" Monica asked in disbelief.  
  
"Yes, we believe that she had been stalked for some time by her assailant Giacomo Soldi, and we believe that he may have had an accomplice." They explained and gave them a photo of Christina.  
  
"Chirstina?!?!?!" Monica gasped.  
  
"You know this woman?" Detective Randall asked.  
  
"Yeah....she works with Rachel. She came here a while ago......." Monica started then swallowed against the huge lump that was developing in her throat, "Oh my god! I........I sent her to them." She said and started to tear up, Chandler put Nathaniel down. He tried to comfort Monica for a moment, then looked at the two detectives who were waiting patiently for their explanation.  
  
"She came here a while ago, she said that she worked with Rachel but she'd gone on vacation and had something needed for work. So she came to us to get the address like Rachel had told her to do." Chandler said.  
  
"It's all my fault....." Monica said guiltily.  
  
"You had no way of knowing what was going on, but we really need to know what you told her." Detective Kensington said softly.  
  
"My family had this cabin upstate.....Ross and I went there a couple times as kids. It's near this place called Cooperstown." Monica said.  
  
"Thank you very much!" They said, and where back in their car heading toward New York with in an instant.  
  
**************  
  
Rachel yawned as she turned off the bathroom light then turned toward the direction of the bedroom in the darkness. A pair of hands grabbed her from behind, she managed to get a soft gasp out before they clamped their hand firmly over her mouth and dragged her back into the bathroom and slammed the door behind them.  
  
Ross sat up and looked around, he'd heard the door slam and what sounded a little a scream. He made his way to the bathroom and knocked on the door.  
  
"Rachel?" He said, the knocked again, "Rach?"  
  
"Don't say anything stupid," Chirstina whispered into Rachel's ear inside the bathroom. Then slowly removed her hand from over her mouth and jabbed what was without a doubt a gun barrel into her kidney.  
  
"Yeah I'm in here," Rachel called.  
  
"Are you okay?" Ross said through the door.  
  
"Umm yeah, I'm fine," She said, her voice shaking.  
  
"Are you sure?" He asked again.  
  
"Yeah! I'm fine Ross. Just go back to bed, I'll be there in a minute." Rachel said.  
  
"Okay," Ross said. The two women listened in a tense silence as his footsteps faded away.  
  
Christina let out an audible sigh of relief, then said to Rachel, "Good job, now come on we're going to go toward the living room. Keep your mouth shut!!!"  
  
They started slowly toward the living room, with Christina keeping a firm grip on the back of Rachel's robe the entire way. As they were almost there light flooded the hallway.  
  
"Hey Rach-" Ross began as he walked out of the bedroom then froze in his tracks, "What the hell?!?!"  
  
Christina shoved Rachel into the living room, then slammed the door and locked it behind her.  
  
"Rachel?!?!?! RACHEL!!!!!!" Ross yelled from the other side and pounded furiously at the door.  
  
Christina leaned against the door for a second, whirled around just in time to point her gun at Rachel, who was running back from the kitchen with a large frying pan in her hand.  
  
"Drop it!" She yelled. Rachel complied after a moment,  
  
"Good, now come over here." Christina instructed, Rachel slowly came over, Christina took some rope out of her vest and tied Rachel's hands behind her back.  
  
"I really wish I didn't have to do this." Christina said in a deadpan voice, "You have no idea how lucky you are. He may not be perfect.......but he would never hurt anyone. Getting him is out now, that idiot Giacomo ruined everything, and....I can't go to jail like him. I can't let that happen."  
  
"What are doing?!" Rachel said without thinking, "What do you think this is a James Patterson novel? Things like this do not happen in real life!!!!!"  
  
Christina narrowed her eyes, then pushed Rachel down onto the sofa. "They do now!" She said, and looked at the door which Ross was still desperately trying to break down.  
  
"Hmm.......maybe this thing will come in handy after all." She said and picked up the frying pan that Rachel had dropped, and hid behind the door. Ross threw himself hard against it a couple more times, before it burst open. He barely had time to think before he was hit hard from behind and fell over unconscious.  
  
**********  
  
"Yeah," the chief of the Cooperstown police department said into the phone, "a park ranger found an abandoned van in the woods today. It was registered to a Christina Healy. Hold on just a second-"  
  
"Okay" Detective Randall said.  
  
"Uhh.....Detective you still there?" the chief said after a minute.  
  
"Yeah" Detective Randall said.  
  
"We found bullets for a 9mm Baretta in the abandoned van." He said.  
  
"Thank you very much, sir" Detective Randall said, "Do you think you could send some men to this address." He asked and read off the address that Monica had provided them with.  
  
************  
  
Ross's head pounded like a thousand drums, when his eyes cleared the first thing he saw was the gray fabric of his sweat pants and t-shirt. He slowly became aware of Rachel sitting on the sofa to his right, and that he was sitting in a chair, which Christina was tying him to.  
  
'Just in time' she thought to herself, then picked up her gun and slid in a new magazine.  
  
"I never meant for it to go this far, but I have to do this," Christina said to Ross then looked at him for a moment. She swallowed, true she was no longer in love with him, but still the thought of actually killing another human being made her scared.  
  
Meanwhile Rachel had managed to untie the rope that held her hands behind her back, she lifted up one had for Ross to see while Christina's back was turned, then quickly put it behind her so that she wouldn't notice.  
  
Christina took a deep breath and turned to face Rachel. 'Her first that will be better.' She thought. After another deep breath she reached for the trigger. However before she could shoot Ross lifted his legs, which were not tied, and kicked her will all of his might. Instantly Rachel sprang up from the sofa, and rushed at Christina. The two feel to the floor, Christina's gun flew out her hand and across the room. Rachel delivered a hard punch to her left eye. Christina fought back and managed to get her on the side of her head. The blow stunned Rachel for a moment as she tried to get up off the floor.  
  
"Rachel look out!" Ross yelled, and Rachel turned just in time to avoid another punch. Ross struggled hard at the ropes that held him to the chair. This was no simple cat fight, it was an all out life or death clash. Rachel got Christina pinned down for a moment. She managed to get her leg up underneath Rachel's body and flung her off. She leapt up and gabbed her gun off the floor. She stood above Rachel and aimed it strait for her head.  
  
"NOOOOO!!!" Ross yelled.  
  
BANG!!!!!!!! 


	5. Part 5: Epilogue

1.1.1.1 Part 5: Epilogue  
  
Rachel screamed and covered her head against the falling glass from the window. Once the all of the echo's from the gun shot were quiet Rachel rose and stood up on wobbly knees. Ross was still tied to the chair looking deathly frightened, red and blue flashing lights from the police cars cast shadows over the walls, and Christina lay on the floor bleeding from her shoulder, with her breath coming in fast rasps.  
  
Ross and Rachel could never do anything except hate and fear Christina, but for just a moment they felt her pain. She knew it was all over for her, the defeat was reflected in her eyes. In a look that haunted everyone who saw it............a look that they hoped would never be reflected in their own eyes.  
  
**********  
  
As the paramedics took Christina away and treated the cuts and bruises that him and Rachel had gotten, Ross was still in a daze. Some how he could not believe that it was over just like that, and part of him was worried. These few weeks had been sort of like a second honeymoon, would the problems they had been having come back when they went back to their real lives?  
  
"Okay sir, you're done," the woman who was treating him said. He slowly stood and looked around. Rachel was standing with the same confused look, her face was a little bruised, and her clothes were covered with shards of glass from when the cops had shot Christina through the window, yet some how he had never seen her look more beautiful. He went over to her, they looked at each other wordlessly for a few moments, before gently taking her hand.  
  
They knew in that moment that after surviving marriage problems, Rachel's horrible attack, and this violating and demeaning ordeal that Giacomo and Christina had put them through, together.......they could survive anything.  
  
**********  
  
Christina Healy was committed to an institute for the criminally insane. The physiologists said that due to trauma from the years of abuse at the hand of her ex-husband she had become a severe control freak. That she was so set on controlling everything around her that what had started as a simple infatuation had escalated into an obsession with not being rejected..  
  
She stayed at the institute for two years, and then committed suicide in her cell one night.  
  
***********  
  
Giacomo Soldi was found guilty on eight of out the ten charges of rape and assault. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison.  
  
***********  
  
Chandler and Monica moved back to New York to live closer to Ross and Rachel, as did Joey. Phoebe, who now lived in France did not, but stayed in very close contact with her five friends.  
  
***********  
  
One year after they returned from their hiding place Cooperstown, Ross and Rachel had their first child. A daughter named Adrienne.  
  
The End. 


End file.
